Political parties and lobby groups

Teacher(s)

Paye Olivier;

Language

French

Prerequisites

The prerequisite(s) for this Teaching Unit (Unité d’enseignement – UE) for the programmes/courses that offer this Teaching Unit are specified at the end of this sheet.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

The course introduces the students to the analysis of two major types of political collective actors, the political parties and the lobby groups, mainly in the context of the Western democratic political systems, with a special focus on Belgium. By the end of the lectures, the students will have studied a comprehensive framework based on the main concepts, classifications, empirical trends and explanatory theories produced by political science about political parties and lobby groups. They will thus be able to better understand the role played by these intermediate groups in the Western democratic political systems in general and in the Belgian political system in particular.

Content

First, the course provides a brief overview of the political parties and lobby groups, including their mutual links as well as their relationship with the State. Then, the course is divided in two parts. The first part is dedicated to the political parties mainly approached by their functions, organization, electorate. The second part is dedicated to the lobby groups, including conceptual explanations (for instance, about the distinction between interest group, social movement, social organization...); usual classifications (i.e non-profit group vs. for-profit group...)...

Teaching methods

The course includes lectures on the one hand and personal homework on the other hand. The literary version of the class' content is to be found in N. Schiffino, O. Paye et al., Fondements de science politique, 2e éd., Bruxelles, De Boeck Supérieur, 2022. The relevant excerpts from the handbook are listed in a document available on the class' webpage, on the Moodle interactive platform. At the end of the latest lecture the document will be updated to reflect the lecture's exact progress. In this way, the exam's material will be accurately delineated.
Lectures are based on a portfolio of PowerPoint slides also available on the class' webpage. Students questions and reflections are welcomed.

For the personal homework, students have to read a portfolio which contents a selection of texts related to contemporary parties in Belgium and in France.  An essay about interest groups is also required (see next section).

Evaluation methods

The assessment consists of two parts, each worth 10 points: an individual written paper (an essay) due just before the start of the examination session and an open book written examination held in session. Subject to slight differences which are specified below, the same assessment procedures will apply in the first and second sessions, as if the course and examination sessions were to be held online due to circumstances related to the Covid-19 crisis.
The essay will only cover those elements of the course that are relevant to interest groups, whether these elements are developed in the 'course material' (i.e. in the parts of the handbook Fondements de science politique, in the slide show and in the lecture sessions), or whether they are developed in the “homework activities material” (i.e. in the texts that make up the reading portfolio). Students will be asked to choose, from a closed list of items, five analytical tools, presented in the course sessions or developed in the reading portfolio, and to apply them appropriately to a particular case study, the factual elements of which will be presented in a lecture during a course session and/or in a text available on the course website. In 2020-21, the case study focused on recent mobilizations of or in support of irregular migrants in Brussels. The essay must be submitted, exclusively in digital form, on the course website no later than the day before the start of the examination session. In the first session, any late submission of the paper will result in the loss of one point out of 10 per day of delay. In the second session, no late submission will be tolerated. In the event that the student has not acquired the credits for the course at the end of the first session, he/she is free to submit an essay in the second session or in a version identical to the one he/she would have submitted in the first session. A more precise document outlining the content and form of the analysis note will be available on the course Moodle site.
The "examination" part of the evaluation will only deal with the elements of the course that concern political parties, whether these elements are developed in the "course material" (i.e. in the parts of handbook Fondements de science politique, in the slide show and during the course sessions), or whether they are developed in the "homework activities material" (i.e. in the texts that make up the reading portfolio).
The examination will be "open book" : the student are free to consult any document, including handwritten annotations, during the examination. The examination will last one hour and will consist of only two questions, each marked out of five, requiring answers in a format (to be specified in the examination paper) of between 15 and 25 lines (see examination papers from previous years which can be consulted on the course website).

Online resources

The class has a Moodle webpage on which the students will find, amongst other things, the following documents: the up-to-date version of the Power Point slides' portfolio, a list of the exact excerpts of the handbook (Fondements de la science politique) constitutive of the class' content, copies of previous years' exams and their correct answers, a set of guidelines and documents for the homework. An online forum is also available for the students to ask any question, provide some answers to their co-students, and communicate with the professor.

Bibliography

Le cours s’appuie sur des extraits de l’ouvrage suivant : N. Schiffino, O. Paye et al., Fondements de science politique, 2e éd., Bruxelles, De Boeck Supérieur, 2022. Ce manuel contient des orientations bibliographiques spécifiques pour les étudiant•e•s qui souhaiteraient aller plus loin. Il s’appuie aussi sur un portefeuille de textes dont la lecture est obligatoire (voir ci-dessus)

Teaching materials

• N. Schiffino, O. Paye et al., Fondements de science politique, 2e éd., Bruxelles, De Boeck Supérieur, 2022.
• Diaporama du cours de Partis politiques et groupes d'intérêt
• Portefeuille de lecture du cours de Partis politiques et groupes d'intérêt

Faculty or entity

ESPB